Access and Benefit Sharing in the Context of Genetic Resources in Digital Era

Abstract

Traditionally, the access of genetic resources from a country in their physical form requires the fulfillment of many legal procedures like accessing permit, mutually agreed terms (MAT) or prior informed consent (PIC) from the country of origin of genetic resources. These legal procedures are mandatory in the “Convention on Biological Diversity” (CBD) and “Nagoya Protocol”, through its third objective of benefit sharing from the access. Further, these international obligations are implemented in India through the enactment of the “Biological Diversity Act” in 2002. According to this act, if a person or a company wants to access a genetic resource from a country, they must provide benefits to the concerned authority of biodiversity. However, increased use of genetic resources by multinational corporations has bypassed the third objective and invariably led to various misappropriation including biopiracy. There are several cases of biopiracy from all over the world as these companies are not complying with the international and national requirements and are also circumventing the obligations using technology. This research aims to analyze the working of the access and benefit sharing system in India and what are the challenges faced in the effective implementation of the relevant statutes.